It's been 40 years since 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by Palestinian terrorists while competing in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

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There has been controversy after the International Olympic Committee refused to hold a moment of silence during the opening ceremonies.

Harry Winkler has always been a top-notch athlete.

"I ran track at the University of Florida. I was a decathlete," Winkler said. "I played basketball. I was there on a basketball scholarship."

But it was after college when handball ended up being his key to the Olympic stage.

"Here, all my dreams of going to the Olympics in track or basketball, they all fell by the wayside," Winkler said. "But all of a sudden, this new sport came along and there I was in Munich."

Winkler said he remembers walking out for the opening ceremony in 1972 like it was yesterday.

"It was a great feeling," Winkler said. "I get a little choked up thinking about it."

Winkler said that feeling was quickly lost when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by Palestinian terrorists. It was a massacre that forever scarred the Olympics 40 years ago.

"Here I was -- the greatest moment of my life -- and then this," Winkler said. "I didn't really know what happened for two days. I found out when a military paper, the Stars and Stripes, which was in English, (had) all the details."

After the attack, there was a memorial for those killed. The athletes gathered, but this time it was much different.

"The next time I walked into the stadium, all the athletes were asked to wear sweats, so we walked in as athletes -- not as a country," Winkler said. "We were all brothers, and we sat in the infield, and they had a memorial service for the Israelis that were killed."

Winkler and the United States team were new to the sport. They didn't win a medal, but he said he will never forget the feeling of representing the United States -- an honor that is featured at the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum.

Winkler said he will most certainly never forget the tragedy that, unfortunately, defined the 1972 Munich Games.